World

Virgin Atlantic confirmed yesterday the launch date of its new London-São Paulo route. The flight is scheduled for 29 March 2020, and will be operated by one of the carrier’s Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft. Virgin Atlantic will join British Airways and LATAM in offering flights to the Brazilian city, with the route becoming the airline’s first ever to South America. The service will operate daily all year round. Detailed route information can be seen below:…

Scandinavian low-cost airline Norwegian is requesting to delay the repayment of bonds in exchange for its takeoff and landing slots at London Gatwick. The airline says it is requesting extension of the maturity dates for two sets of unsecured bonds – NAS07 and NAS08 – until November 2021 and February 2022, respectively. The two bonds were originally set to mature in December 2019 and August 2020. Norwegian claims that its Gatwick slots are valued at…

AirAsia Group has placed an order for a further 12 Airbus A330-900s, in addition to the new long-range A321XLR. The southeast Asian budget carrier signed for the aircraft at an event in Kuala Lumpur on 30 August, adding to the 66 A330neos that it currently has on order. In addition to the A330-900, the airline also placed an order for 30 A321XLR aircraft. The engine selection for the latter has yet to be disclosed, though…

LATAM Airlines Group has revealed the first Boeing 777 retrofitted in its new ‘Premium Business’ cabin at an event in São Paulo. The Latin American airline holiding company is investing $500m (£410m) in improving the overall passenger experience, $400m (£330m) of which will go towards rennovating 200 cabins in over half of its fleet. The launch event took place in LATAM’s largest maintenance facility at São Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport, kicking off with a colourful performance…

Southwest Airlines will not be renaming the 737 MAX once the type returns to service, the airline has announced. The announcement comes as the Dallas-based airline recently extended cancellations of MAX-operated flights until at least 5 January 2020, amid uncertainty over when the Boeing aircraft will be allowed to fly again. Some airlines — most notably Ryanair — have opted to rebrand their MAX aircraft in an effort to distance themselves from the negative reputation…

Yesterday, Boeing posted the largest loss in its history, with the American manufacturer losing an adjusted $3.7bn (£2.96bn) in the second quarter ending June. The loss comes as the 737 MAX approaches its fifth month of worldwide grounding, following two crashes which killed hundreds of people, the cause of both being attributed to the MAX’s MCAS anti-stalling software. The earnings call highlighted the impact to Boeing of the MAX grounding, as the company reported losses…

Cathay Pacific has completed its takeover of HK Express, the company announced on Friday. The airline launched its takeover bid in March and assumed full control of Hong Kong’s only low-cost airline after paying HK$4.93 billion (£505 million). Ronald Lam Siu-por, Cathay’s current director of commercial and cargo, will head the budget carrier as CEO, the airline told staff in a memo. Cathay CEO Rupert Hogg reiterated to staff that HK Express would continue as a stand-alone…

American Airlines has, for the fourth time, decided to extend cancellations on flights operating the Boeing 737 MAX. The airline announced on Sunday that about 115 flights would be affected daily into early November as groundings of the Boeing jet continue across the US. American Airlines is currently the second-largest MAX operator in the United States and had planned to reintroduce the aircraft into its schedule in early September, though that has now been extended…

Low-cost airline Norwegian is celebrating its fifth anniversary of long-haul operations from London Gatwick to the United States. Since launching its transatlantic services in 2014, Norwegian has carried almost 5 million passengers on 8,500 flights between Gatwick and the US. The airline’s first route was to Los Angeles on 2 July 2014, quickly followed by routes to New York JFK and Fort Lauderdale the same week. Norwegian, which was voted Skytrax Best Low-Cost Long-Haul airline…